RIP: Joe Yamanaka of Flower Travellin’ Band

Popular singer Joe Yamanaka died of lung cancer Sunday morning at a hospital in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture, a music industry source close to him said. He was 64.

Known as the vocalist of the rock band Flower Travellin’ Band, Yamanaka also pursued a solo career as a singer and as an actor, appearing in the 1977 movie ”Ningen no Shomei” (Proof of the Man) and singing its theme song, which became a hit tune.

Yamanaka made public in March last year that he had been diagnosed as having lung cancer.

You’ve already witnessed your shorts getting tighter/wetter over the announcement of some Olivia Tremor Control tourdates, along with the exciting news of new material being prepared, but now you can just rip those shorts off entirely and send Mr P photographs because the two OTC albums that stirred your soul in the first place are being reissued in deluxe, double vinyl + download code bonanzas!

The reissues of Music from the Unrealized Film Script “Dusk at Cubist Castle” from 1996 and Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume 1 from 1999 are being handled by Chunklet, the magazine that invented ironic distance and occasionally puts out records by large men like Harvey Milk and Patton Oswalt. Chunklet might seem like a strange partner for these records, but apparently Henry Owings has a long history with that band that dates back to the early 90s when they were calling themselves Synthetic Flying Machine.

Along with being the first time these albums have been available on vinyl since their initial release, Black Foliage has been remastered from the original tapes and “sounds 100x better,” which can be scientifically proven. The albums come in sturdy tip-on gatefold jackets with re-scanned album artwork, and here’s something actually worth noting: each album will come with a download card for a sum total of three hours of rare/live/unreleased material from deep within the catacombs of Elephant 6. This includes all the B-sides and compilation tracks, as well as the Dusk bonus CD that came with the first pressing in 96, Explanation II: Instrumental Themes and Dream Sequences.

This all comes out on November 15, and there’s various incentives to buy the albums through Chunklet’s mail order, including limited editions on green vinyl and a bundle of both albums that includes an OTC shirt, which may or may not have already been worn and pitted out by Henry Owings. Check out the tracklisting for the bonus content below, and then put your shorts back on.

Mr. DIY isn’t a title, but if it was, Chad VanGaalen would have a pretty legitimate claim to it. Actually, maybe Mr. DIY is a title? Does somebody give out that award? A quick Google search only reveals a shop that does something somewhere and has a Facebook page. Somebody should get on organizing this Mr. DIY award. Heck, give me the funding and I’ll do it.

Oh yeah, Chad VanGaalen. Almost forgot. Chad VanGaalen does it all: produces his own records, does the artwork for his own records, makes the videos for his own records, produces Women’s records, instills personal problems within Women to force them into breaking up/taking a hiatus. That last one’s (probably) not true. There’s not much left for Chad VanGaalen to do by himself in this world, so he’s taking on the final challenge: building every venue on his upcoming fall tour.

That’s right, he’s going to build every single venue at every single date he plays! Maybe, judging from the dates listed below, that seems a little fishy. “Doesn’t Manchester’s Deaf Institute already exist? Actually, haven’t I been there? Wait a second, don’t I work there?” Oh poor, naive, unbelievably specific hypothetical person, you understand little. Of course, these venues already exist. VanGaalen’s not going to just produce brand new venues. He is, however, going to tear down the existing venues and replace them with exact duplicates. Anything else would just be disrespectful.

It’s 2011, people, and we True Americans are stuck in a spiteful danse macabre with useless graduate degrees, debt ceiling hysteria, screaming Casey Anthony news coverage, gold standards, Ichelle-May Achmann-Bay (don’t say her name three times after midnight, and DEFINITELY not in a darkened bathroom with your mom’s Vanilla Escape candles burning eerily) and _________ (noun describing any shitty aspect of your life/society.) People are losing homes! People are losing dignity! People are losing the AMERICAN DREAM!!

Until this week, that is. See, True American Brands Ticketmaster and Walmart are teaming up to bring over-sized cat sweatshirts, concert tickets, a little bit of old fashioned elbow grease, and low, low, LOW savings to your neighborhood! If there’s a more perfect embodiment of the American Dream than the newfound opportunity to purchase guns and discount garden gnomes at the same place you buy your $148 (+$76.85 shipping & handling) Creed tickets at a Ticketmaster kiosk inside your friendly, locally-sourced Walmart, well then SLAP ME UP AND CALL ME A COMMUNIST, BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS.

Recently, Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard traveled back to a time before Ticketmaster.com existed (1998? Can I get Cibo Matto tickets? Thanks.) to explain how this True American Innovation gives “fans this very convenient way to learn about upcoming events, purchase and take home tickets without leaving their neighborhood.” He also promises (threatens?) that “Ticketmaster will continue to work closely with our clients to create exclusive high value offers for Walmart customers.” Discount Scott Stapp lawn gnomes, anyone?

Let me reveal my bias right now: I love Future Islands. I love them more than you have ever loved anything in your life. Sorry to ruin your marriage that way, but it is true. In my ideal world, this story would amount to the words “Future Islands are playing Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest and, because of that, you are going.” Then there’d be an animated GIF of me playing air guitar and fireworks going off behind me. In my ideal world, I’m really good at making GIFs.

Unfortunately, this isn’t my ideal world, so I guess I’d better tell you losers more about Fun Fun Fun Fest’s lineup. Fine. Audible sigh. Austin’s finest music festival (eat it, SXSW, ACL, Psych Fest, Frontier Fest, and the festival you’ve scheduled in your backyard and somehow tricked Daniel Johnston into playing) has announced their full lineup, and it is packed full of fantastic indie rock/hip-hop/electronic/punk/metal/comedy/hot-dog-eating-contest acts. First of all, they got Future Islands. Second of all, they got Slayer, Public Enemy, Odd Future, Passion Pit, Lykke Li, Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Danzig Legacy (in which Danzig plays the songs of The Misfits and probably won’t play “Mother”), The Damned, Major Lazer, Dan Deacon, Girls, tUnE-yArDs, Hot Snakes, Brian Posehn, Reggie Watts, Henry Rollins, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Cold Cave, Boris, and a ton of other people.

For that full lineup, head over to the festival’s website. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t immediately see Future Islands, they’re pretty far down on the orange stage. Probably a mistake, which I’m sure they will fix within the week’s end. Tickets are on sale here at this completely different part of the Fun Fun Fun Fest website.